11 Democrats MPs inform parliament of party shift

From the 15 lawmakers representing The Democrats that defected from MDP, those who had not yet submitted their letters of defection to the parliament secretariat have submitted their letters now, the party said Saturday.

The Democrats' election spokesperson, Maafannu North MP Imthiyaz Fahumy told a press conference at the party's headquarters in Henveiru Maizandhoshuge that The Democrats will not be an obstacle to the work of the parliament and will give its full cooperation. He also said that it was the majority party of the parliament, the MDP, that was blocking the parliament’s work.

"We will cooperate in this [running the parliament]. We will not be any obstacle to the work of the parliament," Imthiyaz said.

He said The Democrats will work to hold government accountable to the parliament, and that they will not step back in their work.

Imthiyaz also repeated on Saturday that the purpose of moving the no-confidence motion against Speaker Mohammed Nasheed and Deputy-Speaker Eva Abdulla simultaneously was to put a deadlock on the parliament.

He said the MDP members would know what would happen if the no-confidence motions were filed together.

Parliament had come to a standstill by the end of the second term due to disputes on reconstituting the standing committee following the defection of MPs from the MDP. The no-confidence motions against Nasheed and Eva will be debated only when the committees are formed.

Nasheed had said during the sitting of the parliament on Monday that the committed could could not be reconstituted because he had not received the letters from members of The Democrats informing of their party change.

Proportion of members representing political parties in parliament now: